A Conjuring of Light Shades of Magic, Book 3 V. E. Schwab Tor Books Release Date: February 21, 2017 ISBN 978-0-7653-8746-2 If you like magic, if you like epic fantasy, if you enjoy tales of magicians both light and dark, of brothers and kings, of thieves and pirates, then you […]
A City Dreaming Daniel Polansky Regan Arts Release Date: October 4, 2016 ISBN 978-1-68245-038-3 I knew nothing of author Daniel Polansky when, on the recommendation from a friend, I picked up a copy of his novel Low Town. It turns out I enjoyed that book so much that I sought […]
The Nature of a Pirate A. M. Dellamonica Tor Books Release Date: December 6, 2016 ISBN 978-0-7653-3451-0 In book three of the Hidden Sea Tales trilogy, we are reunited with San Francisco marine videographer Sophie Hansa and her continuing quest to unravel the mystery of Stormwrack, the world that might […]
Throne of the Crescent Moon Saladin Ahmed DAW Books Release Date: February 7, 2012 ISBN 978-0-7564-0711-7 Finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Crawford, Gemmell, and British Fantasy Awards. Winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Inspired by One Thousand and One Nights. This book comes with a pretty impressive […]
Signal to Noise Silvia Moreno-Garcia Solaris Release Date: February 10, 2015 ISBN 978-1-78108-299-7 Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s debut novel, Signal to Noise, had been on many “best of the year” fantasy/YA lists for 2015, but it took me a while before getting around to reading it. I’m glad that I persevered, though; […]
A Gathering of Shadows V. E. Schwab Tor Books Release Date: February 23, 2016 ISBN 978-0-7653-7647-3 In the nine books that Victoria Schwab has written thus far (six as YA author Victoria Schwab, three books under the name V. E. Schwab), A Gathering of Shadows – which is the second […]
All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders Tor Books Release Date: January 26, 2016 ISBN 978-0-7653-7994-8 A young girl who talks to birds; a young boy who builds a two second time machine in his room. Two hideously awful middle school experiences. A member of the Nameless Order […]
A Daughter of No Nation A. M. Dellamonica Tor Books Release Date: December 1, 2015 ISBN 978-0-7653-3450-3 A follow-up to her 2014 novel, Child of a Hidden Sea, author A. M. Dellamonica returns us to realm of Stormwrack to continue the story of Sophie Hansa, a young woman from modern […]
Uprooted Naomi Novik Del Rey First Edition: May 19, 2015 ISBN 978-0-8041-7904-1 Agnieszka is a girl who lives in a quiet village in a green valley. She is sweet natured, and indistinguishable from the other children save for the fact that she always seems to be disheveled and dirty, constantly […]
A Darker Shade of Magic V. E. Schwab Tor Books Release Date: February 24, 2015 ISBN 978-0-7653-7645-9 London is such a touchstone for magic and magical things. Whether it be the environ of Harry Potter’s Ministry of Magic or the setting for Marie Brennan’s Onyx Court, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Charlie […]
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.